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exä|áàt wx VÜ|Å|ÇÉÄÉz|t x V|£Çv|tá cxÇ|àxÇv|öÜ|táConselho Penitenciário do Estado - COPENANO 1 – nº 02Dezembro/2011As idéias e opiniões expressas nos artigos são de exclusiva responsabilidade dosautores, não refletindo, necessariamente, as opiniões do Conselho Editorial.their polythetic diagnostic criteria in antisocial acts, like aggression, assaults, arson, stealing,lying, criminal justice involvement, problems in maintaining relationships, violence etc. So,it's more focused in expressed behaviour rather than in its underlying causes, inner personaldispositions and affective/emotional fundamental impairments. The manuals (ICD-10 orDSM-IV) still don't separate what appears to be diametrically opposed sub-types: the CU-CDand non-CU-CD, being the same true for ASPD with or without psychopathy. Distinguishingthese two groups is important in terms of treatment planning and prognosis evaluation, sincethe CU patients respond less to interventions and have a worse prognosis 17,18 . They startoffending younger, their offences are more violent and they are more likely to be antisociallifelong, reflecting their lack of empathy 16 . These children, comparing with other childrenwith externalising disorders (like CD or autism), are less distressed by their own behaviour,they are ego-syntonic, and these features facilitate the persistence of antisocial acts(demonstrating problem in moral judgement, which evolves structures as dorsolateralprefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate, this last depending on emotional signalling from theamygdala). In other words, these cited structures, to perform reasoning, decision-making andconflict processing, depend on emotional signalling (and, maybe, bodily emotionalprojections), to perform their tasks 4 . CU people, having impaired amygdalar function, willfail in moral judgement and will not get distressed by their inadaptative behaviour 5, 16, 17 .The aetiology is not known, but there is a strong suggestion of high genetical influence, beingthe environment almost negligible in the natural history of CU patients 12, 18 . In one study, aheritability of 67% was found, meaning that the important differences in CU traits found inthese children, compared to normal probands, is explained by genetics in one third of thecases 16. . Giving a reference to compare, the heritability for CD + non-CU is 30% 16 .